A Letter Of Gratitude
by ashley678
Summary: A story of how a simple letter can change two lives forever.


It was graduation day at Hogwarts. Breakfast was served in the Great Hall, looking as delicious as ever; and chatter could be heard from every table about talk of graduation and plans for the future. Owls flew into the Great Hall spreading across the large room in every direction. That morning, Harry Potter got at least one hundred and fifty letters from his female admirers telling him to keep in touch. Ron, his faithful sidekick, had received almost the same amount. As for Hermione, she had only received two. One from home and one from Albus Dumbledore. The letter from Dumbledore read,  
  
_Dear Hermione,  
It was a wonderful pleasure having you attend Hogwarts. You are undoubtedly one of the most talented witches that Hogwarts has ever seen. You will be first on my list to contact, if any jobs become available here at Hogwarts.  
Signed,  
Albus Dumbledore  
_  
Hermione smiled as she read the letter and folded it into a neat little square. "I'll be sure not to forget that." She thought to herself. Hermione opened her second letter. It read,  
  
_Dearest Hermione,  
We are so proud of you. I wish that we could attend your graduation but I am afraid that there isn't a way. We will be waiting for you at Platform Nine when you get off of the train. We look forward to seeing you.  
With love,  
Mom & Dad.  
_  
Hermione, folded the letter and put it in her book bag. She was sad that her parents could not attend her graduation but also glad for the chance to visit home for the summer so she could see them before she had to go back into the wizarding world and search for employment.  
  
The excitement from the owl post had not yet worn off and some people were still receiving letters. All of the professors were opening letters from their students who wanted to tell them that they would be missed and that they were appreciated. All except for one. Professor Snape had not received an owl from anyone other than Dumbledore, since he first started working at Hogwarts. In fact, the only letters that he had received from him were only informing him of staff meetings.  
Everyone knew that Professor Snape was a cold hearted, mean, greasy bastard and that's the way that everyone chose to acknowledge him. He wasn't a nice person and everyone knew to stay away from him. That man didn't even have feelings, why should anyone treat him like he did? What nobody knew, was that, he did have feelings.. right now they hurt deeply. Professor Snape scanned that room in front of him and sighed as it dawned on him that he was once again the only person in the great hall, who didn't have a letter. He slowly picked up his mug of butterbeer and swallowed the rest of its contents. Then he got up from the table and in a quick swish of his robes, he was gone.  
The potions master had left in such a hurry that he didn't even notice the pair of chocolate eyes that follow him across the room.  
When he got to his rooms, He slammed the door shut and walked into the bathroom. He turned on the faucet and ran his hands under the steaming water. He splashed his face a few times and looked up at his reflection in the mirror. "No wonder I never get letters." He said with a defeated tone. "I look hideous." With a wave of his wand, he uncovered the face that had been hidden for fourteen years.  
Severus Snape had been offered a job as the Hogwarts potions teacher, after graduating from Hogwarts and four years of independent study of potions at age twenty-two. Minerva McGonagall had decided that the twenty-two year old potions master would distract the young witches at Hogwarts and decided to give him an appearance transfiguration. In place of his once slick, shoulder length, black hair; greasy strands of it hung in its place. His strong chin and beautiful smile, now had dark stubble and crooked teeth, where once had been perfection. His eyebrows were now bushy and felt pulled to the middle of his face so that he always appeared to be angry. His nose was overly large and hooked. His first reaction to his new reflection, was a shriek of horror and a faint. But once he woke up, he shaved and attempted to comb through that disgusting hair. Although his attempts at making himself look presentable were wasted, he still felt that the job was well worth the money.  
Severus decided that it was time to talk to Dumbledore about permanently removing the appearance transfiguration. It was really starting to upset him. Every morning, when he would wake up and look in the mirror, it would automatically put him in a bad mood to know how incredibly awful he looked. Which in turn, would lead to him having a snappy attitude and bitter feelings of resentment. He would bring this up to Albus in a letter, he thought to himself... After a steamy hot shower of course.  
Severus stripped out of his clothes slowly, folded each item after removing them; and set them on the floor next to the bathroom door. He adjusted the waters temperature to steaming and stepped into the shower. Severus washed his hair frantically for about ten minutes and was not satisfied until every last strand of hair was grease free. Once he felt clean, Severus turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He used his hand to wipe the steam off of the mirror, and wrapped a towel around his waist. He used a drying charm on his hair and was thrilled to see it look presentable in the mirror. "I'm still fairly good looking, for being thirty-six years old." He thought to himself. When he was finished inspecting himself, Severus headed into his bedroom to get a quill and parchment to write to Dumbledore.  
On his way over to his nightstand, he heard a faint knocking. He turned his head towards the door and heard the sound again. Only the sound wasn't coming from the door, it was coming from the window. Severus took a few steps towards the window and heard the tapping become even louder. He pulled the curtain to the side and saw a little barn owl sitting on the opposite side of the windowsill, tapping its beak on the glass. "He must have the wrong window." He thought aloud. But when he opened the window, the owl thrust its right leg at him. Sure enough, the parchment tied to the owl's leg, was addressed to Professor Snape. Severus quickly untied the parchment and handed the barn owl a knut. He flew off satisfied.  
Severus walked over and sat down on the edge of his bed, letter tightly grasped in both of his hands. He was nervous about what the letter contained because he knew that the letter was not from Dumbledore. "I better not get too excited, it's probably just a letter informing me that someone in my family has died or something like that.." He thought to himself...... "Hang on...I know this handwriting." He said aloud. He now knew exactly who the letter was from. He had read this handwriting every week for seven years. Usually, he just skimmed through her twelve-foot long reports. And gave her "O's" on everything that was handed in. Anyone who wrote nine extra feet, on a three-foot report, had to have studied long and hard on the subject at hand. Always wanting to impress him, never failing, never knowing how much she actually did impress him. Her mind was extraordinary and her sheer skill at every type of magic was impeccable. He couldn't believe that at seventeen, she was almost as knowledgeable as he was. Not about everything of course, but who was?  
Severus continued to play with the edges of the rolled parchment and finally unrolled it . The worst thing that she could possibly say was that she hated him and she was glad that she was leaving so that she would never have to see his disgusting face ever again. Right? But what he read was so unexpected that he just sat gaping at it, when he was finished reading it. The letter read,  
  
_Dear Professor,  
In the seven years that I have attended the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you are the one person who stands out in my memory. You were neither encouraging nor enabling, and though most of your lessons were dreaded by most and even feared by some, you were the best teacher that Hogwarts could have chosen.  
You pushed us to out limits and forced us to exceed our best. You never accepted anything less that perfect and you ultimately taught us important life lessons. You taught us that in the real world, people aren't always nice and forgiving and that employers expect your work to be precise and on time. You are only allowed a few mistakes before you are fired.  
You taught us to be strong and that there aren't always second chances. If you screw something important up because you weren't paying attention, in the real world, there are much higher consequences than a failing grade. Though most of my classmates despised you and detested you lessons, saying that you were a cruel bastard... Those same people will one day realize, "Hey... wait a minute... the world really isn't always sunshine and rainbows." And instead of having a mental breakdown at this realization and being sent to St. Mungos, they will find that they already know how to cope with hard times and harsh demands. I assure you that they will never forget the man that taught them how. Nobody will ever forget you Severus Snape. You made outstanding differences in each one of our lives. For that, I give you my sincere respect and gratitude.  
  
Hermione Granger _

__

_**Please review.**_


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